The Catholic Charismatic Renewal (CCR) in Guatemala: Issues of Gender, Ethnicity, and Social Transformation

Abstract

Far from the focus of public and scholarly attention, the Catholic Char-ismatic Renewal (CCR) has developed into the largest lay movement of the Catholic Church in Guatemala, Latin America, and globally. This means that a significant number of Catholics are experiencing a Pentecostal revival within the Catholic Church, as they form part of an internal Catholic Charismatic movement, which in the year 2000 encompassed at least 74 million Catholics in the Americas and a minimum of 120 million globally. In Guatemala, rep-resentatives of the CCR claim that the movement is particularly successful among women and rural Mayas. If the aforementioned claim is substantiated by data, how do we account for the success of a movement with origins in the United States and apparently no cultural affinities to Mayan culture? Why are women specifically attracted to a movement that has been frequently described as patriarchal and conservative? This article examines the history of the movement, its demographics (female and indigenous membership), and four domains (discourse, religious practice, community, and institution)in order to shed light on the impact of Pentecostalized Catholicism on church life, gender, ethnicity, and social relationships